The ACC, which met in Colombo on Thursday, also scrapped the Asian Test Championship claiming that it was a loss-making exercise.

The ACC is holding its finance and development committee meeting on Friday in which the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ejaz Butt will be elected President.

ACC chief executive Syed Ashraful Haque said the council wants to see India touring Pakistan but admitted that it can”t get involved in the issue as it was a matter between the two governments.

“The uncertainty surrounding India’’s tour to Pakistan is a matter of great concern for ACC,” Haque told ”Geo News”.

“But the ACC is helpless as matter is not in hands of cricket boards it is to be decided by both governments. As far as we know, both boards are willing to play the series,” Haque said.

He said security situation was same everywhere in the world and political policies should not be allowed to spoil the game.

“The India and Pakistan series is awaited by everyone not only in the subcontinent but everyone who likes to watch the game of cricket,” he said.

Ramdin replaced Ramnaresh Sarwan for the post for the upcoming five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals on the tour of New Zealand. Sarwan, however, retains the deputy to captain position in the unlimited over format of the game.

Besides him, pacer Fidel Edwards and all-rounder Kieron Pollard have been also included in the ODI squad. On the other hand, batsman Leon Johnson, fast bowler Kemar Roach and spinner Dave Mohammed have been rested.

In the Test squad, West Indies selectors have decided to go with two wicketkeepers; Carlton Baugh and Ramdin. Pollard, another Trinidad Tobago player, has also been given a berth in the squad.

Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn will stay on after the Tests for the two Twenty20 internationals on December 26 and 28. The five-ODI series begins on December 31.

West Indies squad: Xavier Marshall, Chris Gayle (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Kieron Pollard, Shawn Findlay, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Carlton Baugh (wk), Fidel Edwards, Brendan Nash, Nikita Miller, Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn

PHF Secretary, who returned here from Los Angeles (USA) on Wednesday night after attending the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Congress with chief Qasim Zia, said international hockey fraternity was fully supportive to the cause of Pakistan hockey.

He said PHF was not awarded any event because the previous regime of the federation never entered into any bid for holding any international event in Pakistan.

Bajwa said the newly elected head of FIH Leonardo Negre has assured his full and all out support for the revival of international hockey in Pakistan.

He said Spanish Sports Administrator Leonardo Negre had assured Pakistan delegation that his first official visit after his election as FIH Chief will be to Pakistan, just to show his solidarity for the contribution Pakistan had made for the world hockey.

Asif Bajwa said he and Qasim Zia during their meeting with Convener of Indian Hockey Federation Aslam Khan fully expressed their solidarity for the promotion and development of hockey in Indo-Pak.

He said the officials of the PHF and the IHF were of the view that sports should be kept away from politics and both the neighboring countries should continue their sporting links by playing in both the countries.

PHF Secretary said despite terrorists strikes in Mumbai, Pakistan will keep their sporting contact with India by appearing in four-nation international event in Chandigarh in April 2009.

He said President of Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Alexander Algendra of Malaysia also showed his support for Pakistan hockey.

Bajwa said Congress of the AHF will be held in Dubai on December 20 to decide the dates for Asia Cup. He said Asia Cup will also serve as the qualifiers for World Cup as winner of the tournament will automatically qualify for the global contest.

He said Benazir Bhutto International Hockey Tournament would be organized in December 2009 for which details are being worked out.

Asif Bajwa several of the delegates attending the congress assured them that they would be sending their teams held in memory two-time former Prime Minister of Pakistan.

In an exclusive talk with Geo News, Syed Ashraful Haq said that the Pak-India series is the biggest event not only in Asia but in the world of cricket and everybody wants this series to be held in time.

He said that if the Pak-India series is postponed due to political reasons then the game would be badly affected.

He said the Asian Cricket Council cannot play enough role to make this series certain because this matter is to be finalized not by the boards but the two governments have to deal it.

Hae Sung Kim and Jung Yoon Shin beat India pair Poojashree Venkatesha and Parul Goswami 6-4, 7-6(1) in the doubles final.

In the two singles semi-finals, Hae Sung Kim knocked out Indian girl Poojashree Venkatasha 6-1, 6-2 while in an all-Indian affair Kumari Sweta Solanki disposed of top seed Parul Goswami 6-2, 6-2.

In the doubles final, Korean pair of Kim and Shin broke first game of Goswami to take a 2-0 lead and eventually win the first set at 6-4 by hitting number of winners down the lines.

Indians were making lots of unforced errors at the net. In the second set Kim and Shin again built up the winning lead 5-2 by breaking 1st and 3rd game of Goswami and Venkatesha.

Goswami and Venkatesha fought back to level the score 5 all by playing consistant game from the baseline by breaking 8th and 10 game of Kim and Shin. The set was decided at tie-break which was won by Kim and Shin at 7-2 with excellent display of volleys.

This is their second title as the won the first leg played last week. The match lasted 1 hour 45 minutes.

Sweta Solanki and Hae Sung Kim will vie for the top honor in the ladies singles final on Friday.

Solanki won the first set against Parul Goswami at 6-2 by breaking 6th and 8th games of her rival with deep shots down the lines.

Goswami made a lot of unforced errors and most of her returns when out. In the second set Solanki kept the same pressure and won the second set in the same fashion at 6-2 by breaking 4th and 6th games of Gosawami.

In the second semifinal 3rd seed Kim defeated 2nd seed and winner of first leg Venkatesha in straight sets.

Kim won the first set at 6-1 by breaking 4th and 6th games of Venkatesha by playing forceful down the line shots. She was in full command in the second set to build up the winning lead 4-0 by breaking 1st and 3rd games of Venkatesha.

Kim won the second set at 6-2 by holding her won serve with the help of two aces.

The PCB sources told that the board has decided to insure the cricket events and the series to avoid any monetary loss in case of cancellation or postponement of cricket events and series in the present circumstances.

In this regard, the PCB has contacted a British company a representative of which gave a detailed briefing to PCB chief operating officer Saleem Altaf and other officials at the National Cricket Academy here on Wednesday.

He told a procedure of insurance through which monetary loss of the board can be minimized.

Earlier, the previous management of the PCB had also insured an Australian series and had to bear a loss of about Rs 55 million on account of premium.

Yuvraj Singh and Pragyan Ojha have been included in the team. Yuvraj was dropped in the Test series against Australia while Ojha has replaced fast bowler RP Singh, who has been dropped.

Two Tests will be played in the series against England. The first Test will be played in Chennai from December 11 to 15 and the second in Mohali from December 19 to 23.

India’’s squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Subramaniam Badrinath, Murali Vijay.

Talking to journalists here, Miandad said Australia remains the strongest team in the world because of their strong cricket system, which allows nurturing young talent.

He underlined that no talent would be wasted and no injustice would be done to any meritorious cricketer.

Tevez headed in from close-range and then set up Nani to fire home, before Benni McCarthy’’s shot pulled one back.

Tevez struck next from the spot after he was fouled by Martin Olsson, before tapping in another to seal his treble.

McCarthy set up Matt Derbyshire to slot in and McCarthy struck himself from four yards out, before Tevez hammered in a cracker to seal it in injury time.

Tevez’’s magnificent display is sure to cause selection problems for boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who has left him on the bench for much of the season in the league.

As for Blackburn, their poor performance will not ease the pressure on under-fire manager Paul Ince, who has seen his sideslip into the Premier League drop zone in recent weeks.

United were rampant and Tevez completed his first hat trick in a United shirt with a quite wonderful team goal after 53 minutes.

Giggs was the architect of the move with a stunning pass to Anderson, who passed up the chance to score his first United goal to set up Tevez to tap into an empty net.

Ferguson gave Paul Scholes a run out, the midfielder’’s first since picking up a knee injury on 30 September, and he twice shot wide.

Rovers did get on the scoresheet again as Derbyshire collected McCarthy’’s pass to score and moments later Derbyshire returned the favour for McCarthy to make it 4-3.

But Tevez rifled in another belter from the edge of the box and it was the Argentine who deservedly secured United’’s place in Saturday’’s semi-finals draw alongside Tottenham, Burnley and Derby County.

LPG Distributors Association’s chairman, Irfan Khokhar told this here. He said that the government has made a clear announcement regarding the cut in LPG prices since December 3, but some companies have not yet started abiding by it, of which the government has taken a serious notice. He said that LPG price in Lahore should be Rs55, while in Karachi at Rs47 and in Peshawar at Rs58 per kilo. He further said that OGRA has decided to rescind the licenses of those not abiding by the directives of the government.